Dr. Adolf J.H. Enthoven, the most senior accounting professor in the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management and director of its Center for International Accounting Development, died March 15 of complications from a fall late last year. He was 84.

Adolf Enthoven

Dr. Adolf Enthoven

Dr. Enthoven, who joined the UT Dallas faculty in 1976, was an expert on international accounting and wrote or contributed to nearly 20 books on accounting education and the profession as practiced in Africa, Asia, China, Russia and many other countries around the globe.

“I’ve always recognized the influence that accounting has in a nation’s development,” Enthoven said in a 2010 profile that celebrated his reputation and legacy.

That legacy includes hosting a wide array of foreign participants and guests who have attended one of his center’s annual oil and gas financial management programs for developing countries. Held on the UT Dallas campus every summer since 1979, the three-week curriculum attracts mid- and upper-level personnel in oil-producing countries outside the U.S. The program, which has its own alumni association, now boasts almost 1,700 graduates from more than 80 countries.

“The variety of backgrounds and countries among participants helps them gain many insights,” Enthoven said when the program marked its 30th anniversary.

“The school has lost a great accounting professor and a great man,” said Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the Jindal School and Caruth Chair of Management. “Dr. Enthoven was beloved by all who knew him — his friends, his colleagues and his many students, both here and spread throughout the world. He and his center made a huge impact in the oil and gas industry and the international accounting world.

“He was a dedicated, hard-working professor, and we will all miss him very much.”

Dr. Enthoven will live on, the dean said, in part through an endowed professorship that bears his name. The Adolf Enthoven Distinguished Professorship in Accounting and Information Management  was established in 2010.

A native of the Netherlands and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Enthoven arrived in this country as a post-World War II university student. He later earned a PhD in business and economics at what is now Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

After a stint in the private investment business in Europe, he worked in international accounting for the firm of Coopers & Lybrand from 1957 to 1963. That year, he moved to the World Bank in Washington, D.C. as a senior investment officer, where he worked until 1966. He then taught at the University of Illinois and at Harvard, conducted an 18-month world survey of accounting systems, and subsequently taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

When he was first approached about teaching at UT Dallas, he once recounted that he had never heard of the school and had no idea where Richardson, Texas, was. He became one of the Jindal School’s first professors and was responsible for launching its accounting program.

Outside UT Dallas, Enthoven recently served as vice president of education and research for the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management. From 1995 to 2005, he was a special consultant to the World Bank and to the government of Indonesia on accounting reform in that country. Past service included many years as an accounting education adviser to the U.S. Agency on International Development and the World Bank, as an adviser to the Soros Foundations and to the East-West Management Institute, and to the Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues.

Enthoven is survived by a sister, Suzanna (Suus) Lundberg-Enthoven; a brother, Rudolf (Rudi) Enthoven; six nephews; four nieces; and several great-nephews and great-nieces.

“It’s very difficult and sad to say goodbye to our good friend, Adolf Enthoven,” said Dr. Bill Cready, Ashbel Smith Professor and coordinator of the Jindal School’s accounting area. “He was a wonderful accounting professor, friend and colleague. I was always impressed by his commitment to students, his love for the field of accounting and his interest in developing a more global emphasis in his teaching and research.”

Enthoven requested there be no funeral or memorial services on his behalf. However, he said he would welcome memorial donations to UT Dallas in support of the Adolf Enthoven Professorship. Donations can be made to The University of Texas at Dallas online at jindal.utdallas.edu/makeagift or by mail at The Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas, SM 42; 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, Texas 75080-3021. Please designate Adolf Enthoven Professorship fund on the payment.